La Nina Winter Ahead Pt 2
With today’s Fruit Grower Report, I’m Bob Larson. Over the past few decades, winter weather seems to be tied so often to either El Nino or La Nina, warmer and drier or cooler and wetter. And this winter is no different, with most forecast models calling for a La Nina winter.
Washington State Climatologist Nick Bond says that means a bit cooler and wetter, especially on the west side …
BOND … “The additional precipitation is mostly on the west side of the Cascades. During these kinds of La Nina winters, the winds from the west tend to be a little bit stronger than usual in an overall sense.”
Bond says the weather will, of course, vary by region …
BOND … “In terms of kind of charging up ground water supplies and that sort of things, there can be places that don’t really kind of share in the fun as much.”
And that precipitation, Bond says can be shared …
BOND … “But overall, from a water supply point of view, La Nina winters are good for the Pacific Northwest.”
But, Bond says the same good fortune probably can’t be said for folks south in California …
BOND … “It looks like they’re going to get fewer storms and have a dry winter. And so, there are winners and losers and from the water supply aspect it looks like the Pacific Northwest is going to be the winner.”
Listen tomorrow for more on our La Nina winter and what the mountain snowpack might look like and why it’s a positive for a few reasons.
